Varsity beat: Cypress Creek promotes football coach

Varsity beat

February 12, 2009

After 14 seasons as an assistant for Cypress Creek, Orlando native David Jackson has been promoted to head coach for the Bears. He replaces Anthony Paradiso, who resigned after one year (1-9) to become offensive coordinator for Lake Nona, which opens in August.

Jackson interviewed for the job when it was open last year and said he is prepared to tackle the task of turning around a program that is 49-111 in 16 seasons.

FOR THE RECORD - *********CORRECTION OR CLARIFICATION PUBLISHED SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2009**************Because of erroneous information provided to the Sentinel, the results for Ocoee High School's softball game against University High on Page D8 of Thursday's Sports Daily section misidentified the Ocoee player who hit a home run and had two RBIs. It was Jaice Metherall.****************************************************************************************

"My knowledge of the game has gotten better, and my connection with the community and rapport with the kids and parents has improved," Jackson said Wednesday. "We're going to be able to improve a lot of the things we've been trying to get accomplished."

Jackson played football for Oak Ridge and Dr. Phillips -- graduating from DP in 1988 -- and then played and served one year as a graduate assistant at Mars Hill (N.C.) College. He worked one season at Boone before becoming a Cypress Creek assistant.

MORE FOOTBALL: South Sumter OL Michael Bellamy and LB Troy Flowers are scheduled to sign to play for Webber International this morning at their high school.

Boys basketball

Lake Mary Prep's Kyle Tazioli, a 6-foot-7 senior who is getting Division I recruiting attention, was voted boys basketball Player of the Year for Class 1A, District 5 by coaches in the league. The rest of the 10-player, all-district team included two players each from DeLand Lighthouse Christian (Eric Bailey and Rashawn Dixon), Deltona Trinity Christian (Wes Reed and Ian Sauri) and South Daytona Warner Christian (Chris Bradley and Shelton Willis).

Girls basketball

Winning district titles is old hat for perennial powers such as reigning 4A state champ Bishop Moore (26-2), 6A Lake Mary (21-3), 3A Lake Highland (21-4), 2A Daytona Beach Father Lopez (22-5) and The First Academy (15-9). But Class 6A University (19-7) and 1A Faith Christian (13-9) won district championships for the first time last week.

Deltona Trinity Christian (20-6) won its first district title in any girls sports since its 1994-95 basketball team. And DeLand (11-7) won its first girls hoops title since 1990.

Ocoee senior Jared Sanders was selected as a Wendy's Hometown Heisman Award winner, and the school received a $5,000 check after his name was pulled from a drawing of area winners. To qualify for the Hometown Heisman, senior athletes must be excellent students and athletes. and be involved in community service.

Rowing

Orlando Area Rowing Society won the all-points club trophy at the Southern Sprints Indoor Rowing Championships Sunday in Melbourne. OARS was represented by 102 rowers, predominantly high school students -- including some from Dr. Phillips, West Orange, Olympia and Ocoee. The girls won four individual medals and one relay medal. The boys won one individual medal and one relay event.

Softball

Timber Creek's Megan Alligood and Amanda King have signed grants to play in college. Alligood has signed with Manatee Community College in Bradenton and King has signed with Warner University in Lake Wales, Coach Steve Soubasis said. Alligood, a first baseman/pitcher, hit .269 last season with 26 RBIs, and King, an outfielder, hit .270 with 12 RBIs.

MORE SOFTBALL: Samantha Gale of St. Cloud pitched a perfect game and homered twice as the Bulldogs blanked Kissimmee Liberty 12-0 in both schools' opener Monday.

Liberty sophomore Felix Betancourt (35-8) became the Chargers' first district wrestling champion with a title in the 125-pound weight class in the 2A-6 tournament at St. Cloud last weekend. Liberty finished second as a team behind the host Bulldogs. St. Cloud's district winners were Ryan Finneran (119), Trent Livingston (140) and Frank Cousins (160). The Region 2 meet is scheduled for Poinciana this weekend.

MORE WRESTLING: According to Kissimmee Christian, Fox Baldwin became the first sixth-grader to win a district title in FHSAA history at the 1A-9 meet in Mulberry.